


Beneath the Milky Twilight

by timeladyleo



Category: Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 10:05:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8620324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeladyleo/pseuds/timeladyleo
Summary: Rosemary takes Sissix to a remote planet and teaches her how to dance.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, huge huge thanks to everyone who read, kudos'd and commented on my previous Wayfarers fic - I could not be more grateful for all the support I've been shown, or startled at the response it got. Hope you enjoy this one too, and sorry for the wait for it! Please excuse any mistakes, it's unchecked both grammatically and against the text.

“I don’t understand what you’re doing, Rosemary.” Sissix frowned deeply as she watched the human move her limbs in a number of ways, up and down and round in a circle, all the time humming a low tune. Sissix had been rather put out at the idea that Aandrisks didn’t know what dancing was - of course they did. It was just their idea of dancing was very much more formal, and definitely did not include any of this random, rhythmless wobbling.

“I’m just doing what feels right. You’ve got to stop overthinking it. Human dancing isn’t about being right, it’s about feeling good.” This didn’t help Sissix’s confusion. Aandrisk dancing was all about patterns and formations, a precision sport that relied on each person knowing the exact dance and performing it flawlessly, or if it were more casual there were still set patterns that everyone learned right from being a hatchling, and were expected to be able to do with some degree of competency.

Rosemary just seemed to be making it up altogether. Though as Sissix watched her wobble on, she realised that there was some order - each time Rosemary hummed the beat her arms would change direction, and the volume of the song would intensify, just for a moment, before returning to the slightly tuneless drone.

If Rosemary hadn’t been so insistent on her joining in, Sissix felt she would have been more than happy to watch. At first it was strange, meaningless movement, but the more she watched the more she understood. Though there was no set pattern, Rosemary has a good sense of rhythm, and has specific movements she periodically repeated, favouring a shake of her head and circling of her hands.

Sissix was reclined under a tree, tall but gnarled, its branches thin and winding and the leaves doing a poor job of blocking the light from reflecting the three moons. She had forgotten the name of the planet, but it was one Rosemary had insisted they visit, claiming its beauty as a planet both around a binary star and with three moons. Though the planet was rarely in darkness, the stars still twinkled in the night, and at the beginning of their tenday the faint core of the galaxy had been visible.

Now they were nearing the end of their holiday, and the moons had waxed into a larger phase, their faces illuminated by the suns. Sissix loved to look up, found the astronomy of different worlds fascinating. She suspected this was why Rosemary had brought them here, both for the glorious green hills and for the celestial magnificence. Closinghereyes, Sissix smiled. Rosemary had put all this effort into their trip, planning every day meticulously. Surely the least she could do was to indulge her in a dance.

With a deep breath, Sissix flattened her hands to the ground, pushing herself slowly up. Rosemary, lost in her dance, didn’t notice, and taking her moment of distraction, Sissix looked up to find them bathed in moonshine. She stepped forward.

Cautiously, Sissix took one of Rosemary’s hands. “May I?” she asked with a smile, knowing before she even finished the question Rosemary would draw her closer. She did. Sissix stepped to and fro for a few moments, getting a sense of the rhythm Rosemary was humming. The tune had stopped abruptly as Sissix had stepped in, her breath stolen in a moment of delight, but on realising Sissix was serious on joining her, Rosemary had begun again.

They started with small movements, back and forth, before growing in confidence, beginning to sway and wiggle, their moves becoming larger and more ridiculous. Sissix giggled as Rosemary twirled around her, spinning so much she lost the tune and her balance. She stumbled into Sissix, who caught her and the tune. 

It wasn’t the same one - Rosemary had been making hers up. This was an old Aandrisk folk song, one that told the tale of a hatchling who wandered too far and lost its family. It wasn’t a popular one, but it was one of Sissix’s favourites. Despite this, she felt the rather morbid tale may ruin the mood, so settled for the tune, a low, meandering melody with all the melancholy of the tale.

Rosemary pressed herself into Sissix. The dance had turned from over the top to gentle, and they simply swayed in each other’s arms. “This is a lovely tune.” Rosemary whispered, tracing her fingers up and down Sissix’s arm, feeling the texture of her scales fall beneath them. Sissix closed her eyes and smiled.

“It’s a very old song. One day I’ll sing it for you.” There was a prolonged moment of silence, of both letting the moment wash over them. Sissix realised that she was as happy as she had ever been in her life, and wondered not for the first time just how this strange human had worked her way into her heart. Still, Rosemary was there, firmly lodged, and with every trip, every moon, every dance Sissix found herself caring more and more.

Sissix had had relationships with a lot of people in the past, but this - this was the closest she ever thought she had come to love. In the pat, that thought would have frightened her, but to see Rosemary curled into her, the moonlight glancing off her cheeks which glowed with her own happiness, Sissix knew that everything about this was right. SHe gently pushed away a loose strand of hair that had fallen over Rosemary's face.

Rosemary looked up at her, and broke the silence. “I’d like that.” There was another elongated pause, then “I’d like anything you told me. I want to know everything about you, and- I want to know you.”

This made Sissix catch her breath. How could she be so sincere? Rosemary seemed to have few issues with expressing herself, which made Sissix want to stumble over her words and fluster. Without thinking, she said “I’d tell you. I’d tell you anything. I think - I love you, Rosemary.”

At the silence, Sissix looked down in panic, thinking she might have made a mistake. She found Rosemary grinning up at her. Just that made her heart flutter. “I love you too. I didn’t know if you felt like I did, so I didn't want to say, but I definitely do-”

Sissix could tell that Rosemary was rambling nervously, so leaned down and in, inviting Rosemary to kiss her. Rosemary took the offer without hesitation, cutting herself off to wrap her arms around Sissix as they danced long into the night.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any prompts or ideas that you'd like to see filled, feel free to send them over on my tumblr at [sircarolyn.tumblr.com](http://sircarolyn.tumblr.com/).


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